Hy-Vee filling hundreds of full-, part-time jobs

Hy-Vee expects to hire 550 part-time employees in three days this week toward an eventual local workforce of about 670 in Springfield.

By Tim LandisBusiness Editor

Hy-Vee expects to hire 550 part-time employees in three days this week toward an eventual local workforce of about 670 in Springfield.

Dozens of job applicants lined up as much as two hours early at South Side Christian Church on MacArthur Boulevard on the first day Wednesday for the all-inclusive process from initial interview to drug testing to on-the-spot hiring.

The store on the site of the former Kmart, 2115 S. MacArthur Blvd., is scheduled to open late this spring.

“You'll know when you leave if you have a job,” said newly named store director Kyle Thornsbrough. The hiring fair continues Thursday and Friday at the church.

Computer banks were set up at the church for online applications, and human-resource personnel conducted interviews on-site. Thornsbrough said the local workforce will be somewhat larger than the traditional Hy-Vee store but that the interview process for part-timers is standard practice.

The company already has hired 120 to 130 full-time employees.

“The project's running right on schedule,” said Thornsbrough, who transferred from a store in Iowa City, Iowa.

The employee-owned company, based in West Des Moines, Iowa, has annual revenue of $8 billion from 235 stores in Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The Springfield Hy-Vee will be open 24 hours, seven days a week, according to the company. At 90,000 square feet, the supermarket takes most of the 110,000 square feet of the Kmart building.

In addition to the supermarket and convenience store, the Hy-Vee will include a full-service Market Grille restaurant, full-service pharmacy with delivery and catering with delivery.

Hy-Vee has a gasoline-purchase awards program with Casey's and Shell.

2,000 applicants

Thornsbrough said more than 2,000 applications were received for full-time work and that a similar response was expected for part-time jobs.

“It's hard out there,” said Springfield resident Terry Dale, who was among those lined up in the parking lot of South Side Christian Church.

Dale said he has done warehouse and volunteer work, but has been unable to find full-time employment despite months of searching. He said he also just completed his licensing for commercial truck driving.

Entry-level employees at Hy-Vee start at $9 an hour, including part time, according to the company. White shirts, including ties for male employees, are part of the dress code. Grocery bagging and carryout remain among services offered.

”I have a lot of awesome people from Springfield,” said Thornsbrough. “I've been in the schools, I've been in the churches. I've spent a lot of time recruiting in Springfield.

Two-mile radius

According to 2012 census estimates, 77,000 residents live within a three-mile radius of MacArthur Boulevard. Median household income was $46,668, and median household net worth was $366,793.

Household spending on food and beverages totaled $263 million, according to the census data, though not all of that spending was necessarily within the three-mile radius of MacArthur.

Hy-Vee traditionally considers a two-mile radius from a store its “core” market, said Mary Fuhrman, Hy-Vee assistant vice president of operations for the Eastern District. But she said the MacArthur Boulevard location is expected to pull from well beyond that area.

“In a single-store town like this,” said Fuhrman, “we can draw from some of the smaller towns around Springfield.”

Fuhrman said Hy-Vee executives are well aware the company is entering a highly competitive market. In addition to supercenters Wal-Mart, Meijer and Target, longtime names such as County Market, Schnucks, Aldi and Shop 'n Save have multiple Springfield locations.

“It'll make the other stores better,” said Fuhrman. “It'll make us better.”

Kmart eyesore

The former Kmart had been empty for 10 years when Hy-Vee broke ground last summer. The structure had become the source of frequent complaints of graffiti and trash dumping.

Members of the MacArthur Boulevard Association made the building an early target of efforts to rid the corridor of dilapidated buildings. Clearing and cleaning up the Kmart site became a major justification in 2012 for creation of the MacArthur Boulevard tax increment financing district.

The city approved $3.5 million from the TIF to aid Hy-Vee with redevelopment costs.

Landscaping, said Fuhrman, is a big piece of the Hy-Vee plan, including parking lot islands of trees, shrubs and grass, as well as a decorative pool on the northeast corner of the property.

“Everybody who talked to me from groundbreaking has asked what's the landscaping going to be?” said Fuhrman. “It's been such an eyesore for 10 years. It's going to be very nice.”